OLD FRIENDS If the child has a lot of stuffed animals that
he/she has outgrown, but just isn’t ready to part with yet? Use a
HAMMOCK or a net that hangs way up in the corner of the ceiling.
The toys can be put up there and they can still be seen but they
are out of the way.

SETTING UP CATEGORIES Kids can organize their toys by category
(cars and trucks together, dolls together, specific types of
games together, etc) in big bins or baskets. If the child can
read, LABEL the bins to help them remember which bins are for
which category. LIDS are usually too much for kids to deal with,
so get containers without lids, or store the lids elsewhere for
when the kids aren’t using the bins anymore.

GET IN THE ZONE Set up ‘zones’ in the room for DIFFERENT
ACTIVITIES; art & craft zone, reading zone, puzzle zone, and a
large play area to play with blocks and whatnot. Get the
appropriate TOOLS for each zone, such tables for the child to
work at in the art and craft zone, shelves for puzzles and games
in that zone, and a comfy chair and a bookshelf in the reading
zone.

GO UP Because kids need a good amount of floor space to play in,
use the WALL SPACE for storage. Hanging sturdy shelves or wall
bins at a height that can be reached by the kids, clear plastic
wall pockets, or stacked milk crates work well for kids to do
their own organizing. Container Store is great for shelves if
you have one in your area. Their Elfa shelving system is totally
ADJUSTABLE, so when the kids grow taller, just snap out the
shelves, and snap them in higher up on the tracks! It’s the only
shelving system I use with my clients, and I love it.

A HOME FOR EVERYTHING Teach kids the benefit of CONTAINERIZING
items by category or by the activity that required; for example,
things you build, things you read, things to draw with/on, or
toys with wheels. Teach them how organizing makes their things
easier to find. So much of what we call clutter is just stuff
that has no home, and even kids can ASSIGN homes to all their
stuff and be taught how to put things away when they’re finished.

DRESSING IN A SNAP For kids clothing, install shelving in their
closets that they can reach and use lots of hooks and HANGING
SPACE. If kids clothes are in a folded pile or in a drawer, they
are more likely to just wear what’s on top, rather than looking
through the pile, so hang as much as possible.

DISPLAYING THEIR ARTWORK Hang a clothesline along one wall of
the child?s room, a few feet down from ceiling level, and use
CLOTHESPINS to display artwork that kids bring home from school.
Once it’s been displayed, if the child can’t part with it, use
clear UNDER BED containers for longer-term storage.

Kids can be taught organizing concepts and tactics, which will
serve them well through school and into their adult years. And
who knows, with their creative little minds working, you might
learn something new about organizing from them!

About the author:
Monica Ricci has been an organizing specialist since 1999, and
her motivational presentations teach effective organizing and
simplifying techniques for home and work. She also offers free
email tips and ideas on how to make life simpler and more
organized. Her topics include clutter control, paper management,
time management, organizing space and procrastination.Contact
Monica at 770-569-2642 or Monica@CatalystOrganizing.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

1. Play. Colors Colors are life, colors are fun! Each has a
special message to give you, personally! Use them: take your
child self on a shopping trip to an office place, and choose
folders in the color that you like the most, be it a bright
orange, a sophisticated teal, or a spirited violet. Play with
this; maybe you want to have matching or contrasting colors for
your hanging files folders. Let yourself start a brand new
journey with your paper world, colored by the magic of a
rainbow.

2. Play. Sant (Pleasant)

Along with the new appealing folders instilling joy and renewal
and clearing old patterns, look at the objects that are in your
d?cor, e.g. pencil cup, paper trays, lamps, etc. Do you like
them? Do they make you smile each time you look at them? Frame
the photograph of your beloved with a frame that brings you
pleasure, or invest in the slick metallic office set that you
like! Those small investments will transform your mood, and thus
your world.

3. Play. Business Guru

It is all about playing: create a fun ritual around your
organizing sessions. Possibly go to a costume store, and buy
yourself a pair of Groucho Marx’s glasses (with the mustache!)
For 15 min. of organizing, put on those glasses, and pretend you
are an organization expert, or a business guru. Have fun!

4. Play. Order Builder

Think of yourself as a Body Builder, and as organizing as your
favorite workout. Do a set of 15 minutes. No more. Actually use
an egg timer to make sure you are not overworking your order
muscles. We wouldn’t want for you to be so exhausted tomorrow,
and so sour you won’t touch your files for another month! Just
commit to do a set for 15 minutes a day, five days a week! Easy.
For each organizing set, treat yourself to a 15 minutes passion
break, where you do something you are totally passionate about!

5. Play it. And Joy Will Come

This is my promise to you: since it is much harder to resist
doing something than actually doing it, joy will flow to your
heart after your very first session! After a week, you will
truly relish in your accomplishment, and start seeing a path to
your own freedom. A month will grant you a self-esteem that you
never thought was possible! Not counting the greater
effectiveness, and the satisfaction of knowing what you own, and
where it is!

6. Play. to Allow Win

That is where the goofy costume mentioned in #3 becomes really
meaningful! Halloween is Allow win: know that as you start this
new life of yours, there may just be the possibility of a
relapse, and that the wonderful joy just described might turn
again into sheer hopelessness. Should that moment hit, put those
glasses back on, and grab a mirror, quick! Your despair can be
seen as being as real, and as unreal as those glasses are,
guaranteed!

7. Puzzle Play

Since you have just become willing to relapse into your old
self, and have fun with it, you can also make a game out of any
challenge you may encounter. Treat it as a puzzle, as a game for
your mind to resolve. First focus on the solution, and then,
just like any other genius, give yourself some time to hear the
answer. It may be helpful to create a “Puzzle file” to be
visited in your Friday sessions.

8. Play. Music

Much has been said about the effect of music on reprogramming
the brain. Use it. Do your 15 minutes set while playing your
favorite tunes! In this manner, you will change your previous
thought forms on organizing to a mindset of appreciation,
synchronicity, and harmony.

9. Play. Decide

Do you remember being a child and playing Post Office, or
Grocery Store? Do you remember how you would just “decide” how
many stamps to buy, or bananas or cartoons of milk? Your piles
of paper are only decisions unmade, because you thought the game
was very serious, and that you could make “mistakes.” Become a
child again; give yourself to decide; this I keep, this I let
go! That I let go, and this I keep! And watch yourself becoming
lighter, and happier, and, also interestingly, way more secure
about yourself!

10. Play. Inspired!

Hire a coach. Hire an inspiration coach. Hire an Inspiration
Coach, whose name starts in Maha, and finishes with “Lene.” Hire
an Inspiration Coach, whose name starts in Maha, finishes with
“Lene,” and whose email reads mahalene@soulvision.com. E-mail
Mahalene now: you are on for the greatest adventure!

This piece was originally submitted by Mahalene Louis,
Inspiration Anchor, Artist, Author, and Speaker, who can be
reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ‘; document.write( ‘‘ ); document.write( addy_text94223 ); document.write( ‘<\/a>’ ); //–>\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , via phone
512.632.8952 or visited on the web at http://www.soulvision.com.
Mahalene Louis wants you to know: As an Inspiration Anchor, I
offer an engaging e-zine, free teleclasses and Turn on the
Light!, a unique program to assist the creative genius in you to
express and market your gifts successfully. Turn on the Light!
inspires you to show up as a stunning masterpiece of unbridled
passion and creativity, and to evolve consciousness by acting in
alignment with the powerful force you are.

About the author:
Mahalene, a native of France, began her career as a journalist
and teacher in Europe. She spent her first twenty years in the
US as a self-supporting artist. As she is in all accounts a
“true artist,” one of her greatest gifts as an inspiration
anchor is to offer “a new way to look at it,” which is greatly
instrumental to increase chances of success, prosperity, and
happiness.

a) Have to Keep b) Maybe.Not 100% Sure c) Definitely Not

Once you have completed this part of the project, you will more
than likely find the “Definitely Not” pile is the smallest one.
What is it a professional might call this “Separation Anxiety”?
However, don’t worry, almost everyone ends up this way, after
all it is not easy parting with our things, even if it is
something you have not used in years. 3. Re-Sort Once More Try
to be as realistic as possible here, remember the goal is to
“Clear The Clutter”.

a) Not Sure Group This group is easy: If it is already here,
more than likely, you will never use it so into the “Definitely
Not” pile it goes.

b) Have To Keep This could be the hardest pile to sort, so a tip
to remember: If you have not used something in the last year,
chances are you probably will not use it again. This applies to
everything from shoes to car cleaners; however if there is
something you never use but has a special memory attached, keep
it.

Gifts can be a tricky area, one thing to keep in mind just
because someone gave you something, it does not mean you must
keep it forever. So that figurine that great aunt Edna gave you
years ago or the bird made of shells from a friends vacation
does not need to keep collecting dust on your bookcase.

Now, you may wonder about things from your children. I use to
keep everything my daughters brought home from school. Finally,
I decided to go through and keep one or two items from each
grade, put them into a plastic storage box labeled Sherri &
Ashley – School – K-12. Now all school memories are safe and in
one place, this is a useful idea for grandparents.

Once you have finished your resort, you have a couple of choices
for those “Definitely Not” items, depending on their condition,
either just pitch them, give them away or have a tag sale and
make yourself a little money. 4. Organize & Store What Is Left
Now is the time to put what is left away, by organizing you will
not only have tidy shelves, closets and cabinets but you will be
able to put your hands on what ever it is you need.

There are numerous storage options for every room in your home.
Plastic boxes come in a variety of sizes and colors and are
inexpensive. Stacked on a closet shelf, clear smaller sizes make
perfect storage for extra shoes, winter gloves, pictures or how
about extension cords, nails, packages of hooks or hand tools.
Larger sizes can keep extra winter coats, blankets, odd season
clothes or seasonal decorations neat and in one place. Baskets,
hampers even seldom used suitcases can be useful, stacking
plastic milk crates are perfect for kids room.

How about those cluttered kitchen cabinets, plastic tiered
risers work wonderful for stacking cans of soup, veggies or
spaghetti sauce, this makes use of wasted space and you are able
to see at a glance what you have. One area everyone has is the
famous “Junk Drawer”; these can be kept organized with
silverware trays. By buying individual pieces in different
sizes, you can customize each drawer to fit exactly what you
need. The lesson here is that by having a little patience,
taking your time and giving some thought to your storage needs,
you can not only “Clear The Clutter” but also have an organized
home.

About the author:
Bonnie P. Carrier is the creator of Savvy Home Decorating. She
is the mother to two grown daughters and a very spoiled 4yr old
Blue Merle Sheltie named Toby. She has been a homemaker for over
23yrs, with lots of experience at budget decorating and
organization. Stop by Savvy Home Decorating for ideas and tips
on budget decorating.

. Emails . Phone . Meetings

The increase in productivity from investing a small amount of
time in efficiently managing these activities upfront is more
than worth the result.

EMAIL MANAGEMENT

Keeping up with the daily onslaught of emails is a major
challenge for most of us, both personally & professionally. The
following tips will help you manage the daily flow of emails:

. Create an electronic filing cabinet, much like the physical
cabinets you have, with electronic folders for category names

. Once emails have been read and responded to (if an action is
required), move the email from your inbox to your storage
folders. This makes it easy to track which emails still need an
action. Many companies impose limits on “inbox” size. By moving
your mail out of your inbox to a personal folder, an added
benefit is that the restriction on size will not interrupt your
day at precisely the moment you need to send an email.

. If your email program includes previous email content for that
email string when replying, be sure to delete earlier versions
of the string to avoid redundant emails filed. This makes it
much easier to find the latest copy in the string when searching
later.

. If your email has an attachment file, detach and save it as a
file in your electronic filing system for future reference, so
you won’t have to go searching through your emails to find the
file later. Relying on email subject headings can create a time
consuming search for the file later.

. If you frequently send the same type of email, save a copy as
a draft or template that you can reuse over & over (changing the
specifics such as name, date and amount for each email)

. If a document is available electronically, but you refer to it
frequently, print it and keep it in a hanging file or on your
desktop.

. Every 6 months or so, go through your folders and delete
emails no longer needed. This will save disk space and make your
searches more streamlined.

PHONE MANAGEMENT

. When you leave a voice mail for someone, if the issue you are
calling about is a straightforward question, ask it on voice
mail to avoid playing telephone tag. Also, encourage the
responder to leave the answer on your voice mail if they miss
you. However, if the issue is complex, do not leave a lengthy
voice mail explaining the issue (out of consideration for the
recipient).

. If you know you will be in meetings or unavailable at certain
times, let the person know o avoid voice mail telephone tag.

. If you are in the middle of a complex task that requires an
uninterrupted thought process, let voice mail answer the phone.
Otherwise, take the call to avoid a pile up of messages to
return later.

. Phone messages should be responded to within 24 hours. If you
have been too tied up to answer a question or inquiry, at least
respond to the person who called to let them know that, and then
give them an expected date by which you will have the answer for
them. This way you still seem responsive, even if you cannot
address their request immediately.

MEETING MANAGEMENT

. When calling a meeting, always draft an agenda and attach it
to the meeting invitation. The agenda will serve multiple
purposes:

o Help attendees prepare for the meeting o Provide a sense of
time allocated to each subject, so attendees can be mindful of
intended time allotments o Focus attention on the key issues to
discuss (in case the meeting agenda gets sidetracked) o
Demonstrate to others that you value their time & intend to make
the meeting productive

This work equally well for small or large meetings, but becomes
even more essential to productivity with a large meeting

. After the meeting, it is helpful to prepare “meeting minutes”.
The minutes provide a summary of the key points discussed, and
the associated outcomes and action items. They serve as a
helpful recap for the attendees, as well as others who could not
attend, but who have an interest in the subject matter. A track
record of accurate meeting minutes also helps to keep meeting
size to a manageable volume, as all of the affected parties will
feel less of a need to attend the meeting in order to understand
its’ directional outcomes.

. The day before the meeting, make sure to arrange for copying
of any required handouts.

. If co-workers are always dropping by for impromptu meetings,
don’t hesitate to create a “Do Not Disturb” time to be used for
those complex thinking projects, where being interrupted has a
big impact on your train of thought.

Copyright 2004-All rights reserved

About the author:
As The Organizing Wiz, Ilene Drexler works with clients who want
to get organized in their home or offices. As a member of the
National Association of Professional Organizers and the National
Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, Ilene is a part of the
industry’s leading resources for professional organizing.

The Organizing Wiz Phone 917-301-1981 Email:
ilene@organizingwiz.com
url: www.organizingwiz.com